Many contact sports, like football, require a player to block an opponent to prevent that opponent's forward movement. For example, in football, an offensive player may block a defensive player who is trying to break through the line of scrimmage and tackle the quarterback before the quarterback passes the ball. As another example, a defensive player may block offensive players on the line of scrimmage to give other defensive players the opportunity to break through the line of scrimmage and tackle the quarterback.
Training is a large part of any sport, and requires effective equipment to simulate real play conditions as close as possible. For contact sports such as football, weight sleds are often used to train athletes. Weight sleds are different from tackling or blocking sleds in that tackling and blocking sleds are typically used for explosive impact training in which a user hits the tackling or blocking sled. Weight sleds are meant to be driven forward to provide a user with resistance for strength training while promoting proper body positioning. Weight sleds often provide static handles or dummies that attach to the weigh sled close to the user. This results in a feeling not unlike pushing a heavy lawn mower, rather than throwing a block and driving an opponent backwards. Further, by placing the handle or dummy closer to the player and the weight (including added weight) further away, the far, distal end of the sled may act as a fulcrum and the sled becomes an effective lever, lessening the effective weight of sled if the user lifts the handle or dummy upward.
Further, during real play, an opponent is heavy and moves, often from a crouched position to a more vertical position, while pushing forward. This requires the blocker to also move upward and drive with his hips under him in a more upright position, rather than behind him in a flat back position. Also, for defensive training, a player may want to practice an explosive push to lock out an opponent in conjunction with a push away or arm over to break away from the block and get to a quarterback. This requires that the handle or dummy not be unusually tall, which may be a problem for shorter players using a non-adjustable weight sled.
Further, the dummies that are used on tackling or blocking sleds, and on some weight sleds, are not useful for practicing good hand positioning, and are generally not helpful for athletes other than football players. For example, basketball, baseball and volleyball players may benefit from using a weight sled, but would not benefit from having to drive the weights sled forward while holding a dummy.
Further still, typical weight sleds, or tackling or blocking sleds, do not provide for hip thrust training. In many sports, such as football, basketball and volleyball, the athlete typically must thrust his hips under his body to perform basic moves within the sport. Typical hip strengthening machines are stationary, and thus do not enable the athlete to drive a weight forward and/or upward while rolling his hips forward and under his body.